black bear 4A black bear reportedly attacked a Boy Scout leader in Rockaway, New Jersey on Sunday, as he was showing three Boy Scouts a cave.

According to police, the scout leader, Christopher Petronino, 50, of Boonton, suffered non-life-threatening injuries in the attack.

Police say Petronino was showing the scouts a small Talus cave. Petronino said he’d known about the cave since 1980 and never encountered a bear there before. He entered the cave alone first, which is when he encountered the bear.

When the scouts heard his cries for help, they called police, built a signal fire and tried coaxing the bear out of the cave with their snacks. Police said smoke from the fire eventually forced the bear out as well as gave rescue units their precise location.

Petronino was air-lifted to a local hospital to be treated for his injuries.

The bear attack comes little more than a year since the first fatal bear attack in New Jersey in 150 years.